Carmack reveals move during Quakecon 2011 keynote

Speaking at Quakecon 2011, id's technical director John Carmack revealed that parent company Zenimax was supportive of the move. He also challenged other developers to release their own source code, arguing that it helps the community.

The source code will be available after the launch of Rage, which hits shelves in October.

id's engine Id Tech Five will also go open source, but not until it's no longer used for official projects. Carmack speculated that this could be as long as ten years away.

Carmack refused to talk about id's next big project, Doom 4, but did reveal that there were already plans for Rage 2. He also described a browser-version of classic title Wolfenstein as “off the table.”

Quakecon is an annual gaming event held in Dallas, Texas, and and curated by id Software. The event will run until August 7.

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This is why i like id, they still have that connection to hobbyists and small devs, who can make very good use of tools/code like this. After all, I doubt they will still be making cash from engines that old. In my eyes, Epic have always done it right with UDK.

Carmack is cool. He always plays with a level head, gives out his source code, and is happy to experiment with new technologies. I was impressed when he started working on Mobile Phone platforms, even Java, and then iPhone. It shows a certain humbleness that I appreciate! He's an inquisitive dude, always kicking goals!

Which scientist was it who, when he heard a competitor was closing in on the same discovery, sent over all of his data to his competing scientist - thereby knowing that while his competitor was sifting through it, he would be publishing?